It's mid-December and all our friends/clients in the hotel and leisure business are busy and without exception have had a very good year.
As is normal in this business many of us take a vacation after the busy festive season when our own customers and clients have returned to work. I was asked this week for my suggestions on where two of our friends should bring in the New Year, not advice I would normally like to give, but here are some of my most memorable New Year's Eves:
* Bringing in the Millenium in Jerusalem at the wonderful King David's Hotel.
* Joining over 1,000,000 people on Copacabana Beach,Rio De Janiero, for the most spectacular New Years Eve firework display on barges out at sea after the most enjoyable meal and elegant Brazilian party up until midnight in the hotel.
* Vienna, the city of opera and music with its wonderful Opera Balls and its marvellous hotels may be cold but the atmosphere is unique.
* New Delhi in India is hot but a stay at the Imperial Hotel is a wonderful experience at the heart of this great city
* Buenos Aires in Argentina at the Alvear Palace Hotel took us back to an elegant 1950s time warp.
As for Calpe, a well meaning colleague suggested I recover from the busy year by relaxing in January in a monastery! This is almost what I am going to do - my take on that is to visit the Legend Santa Clara, once a 17th century convent now with five star French Management. Part of the Convento was the inspiration for Gabriel Garcia Marquez's fascinating novel Of Love and Other Demons.
Whereever you will be bringing in 2015, have a great New Year's Eve.
I wish you and your families a very Happy Xmas and an enjoyable and prosperous New Year.